Build Thread CJ7 restoration in progress- Advice please

[bullseye]

Hello. Brand new to the board but jumping right in. Started an interior restoration on my 84 CJ7 about 2 weeks ago.

I first pulled the seats which of course had 1 bolt frozen in each one, so that took me a while to drill those suckers out. (The easy stuff on a Jeep is never easy)

So it's hard to see but one of the seats has a large tear and the other 2 have some small holes which are about to get bigger.

I checked to today into getting them re-covered. Various places quoted me $700-1500.

I'm thinking some nice seat covers might be more in order... BUT I am also thinking about getting the Omix-ADA stainless steel tracks and brackets. Really nice looking but expensive.

 

[bullseye]

I decided to go with a paint stripper. I used a simple Citrus brand then moved up to ACE hardware stripper for the harder spots. Overall, a pain in the butt, but came out pretty good. Still need to hit some more spots and sand, but almost done. Here are some pics of how that turned out.

 

[bullseye]

So I have some rust, but no rot. I have 4 qts of POR-15 and plan on repainting the interior floor with that. The last pic is blurry, but you can see all the surface rust before I hit it with some naval jelly and wire brush.

 

[bullseye]

So here are some of my questions. First, could someone tell me what these 4 X-Men logo looking things are in the back of the Jeep and are they safe to pull? They have a greenish looking rubber gasket around them.

In addition, the last 3 pics show a metal looking plug with no rubber gaskets. Are these the drain plugs, and have they simply fallen out of the holes that have nothing there? Can I pull these as well? I have pulled on one pretty hard, but it won't come out, so I don't want to crow bar it until I know for sure.

 

[IOPort51]

Welcome to jeepcj.com from the Republic of Texas.
I just had my two buckets done with marine vinyl for about $250 for the pair.
I think I would keep looking, I have never been that impressed with seat covers especially wet seat covers, but that’s just me.

You can never have too much stainless steel; I’m just not a big fan of Omix-ADA.
When was the last time you or anyone else bothered to look at the seat slides? A little Triflow keeps mine sliding nicely and I think they look great in gloss black.

 

[bullseye]

In the next 3 pics you will see the bolts holding down the roll bar and 1 bolt anchoring down the seat belt.

Are all these bolts welded in the frame stock from the manufacturer? I've tried loosening them using a good size breaker, but they won't budge! I think I am even bending the torx bit...

I would very much like to change out the seat belts as they are a bit frayed and worn.

I would also like to remove the roll bar to get into those tight spots to strip and paint. It would make life much easier, but as we all know with Jeeps, life is never easy.

But what I would LOVE to do is to send out that roll bar to be stripped then chromed. I've seen it once before on a Jeep and it looked amazing!

 

[bullseye]

You can never have too much stainless steel; I’m just not a big fan of Omix-ADA. When was the last time you or anyone else bothered to look at the seat slides? A little Triflow keeps mine sliding nicely and I think they look great in gloss black.

Thanks for the reply. Very nice to hear from you. Def checking into more auto upholstery places. Might even send them out if nothing local that meets my needs ($$$).

Omix certainly is one of the larger manufacturers of stainless steel. I also like Kentrol. It seems like Quadratec and 4WD carry a good selection of both. It's actually Kentrol who makes the seat brackets. I put a pic of them below.

My slide on the driver's side works fine but there is no slider on the pass side. They both have some surface rust and I have painted over them before with some Rust-o-leum ? years ago.

I've tried to strip them but they just have to many creases and corners etc to get in there and do it right.

The ss slides are more of a Xmas wish than anything, but they do look good.

http://www.kentrolinc.com/prodimg/full/30552.gif

 

[bullseye]

Another question. In this pic you can see the plug I was talking about before but you can also see the filler/caulk that seems to be in every seam in my Jeep. This stuff is next to impossible to get out! Stripper did very little, but it is old and cracking.

What is this stuff and do I need to replace it?

 

[bullseye]

I want to pull my dash. I'm talking about the instrument panel here and not the padded dash. I want to replace a few burnt out indicators, and new stainless cover, new pull knobs, etc. and I would also like to clean up the wiring a bit back behind there. Again here are some pics.

Problem of course is the steering column goes through the dash, so I guess I need to remove the wheel and/or column to be able to flip the dash down? Does the bolt under the horn need to be pulled? (See very blurry pic)

Anyone have any experience with this?

 

[bullseye]

Here's a couple more pics. Gotta hit the sack but am looking forward to hearing anyone's thoughts. I'm certainly going to be adding to this post with more questions and keep everyone updated on my progress. Thanks again.

 

[IOPort51]

Let me answer what I can and speculate on what I will.
I like the seat brackets, I bet they are pricey. but cool! I was thinking seat slider and thought why bother.
The torque bolt that holds the seat belt on is threaded into a nut which is welded to the body. I will make two suggestions. First I am a big fan of a penetrating oil that is 50% acetone and 50% ATF. I am told it is what PB blaster is made of but I do not know for sure, I know it works far better than WD40. I would say it was something to keep away from direct contact with the paint as much as possible but with the state of yur paint it is not much of a concern. Soak the threads overnight for best results.
second suggestion, I have found that cheep torques drivers are not worth owning, I suggest a set of Kobalts or craftsman. I have the best results with a 3/8 drive impact driver. That is one of those things you hit with a hammer, it comes with a philips and flat screw bit. just put the 3/8 torque bit on the end of the driver and assault it with a two pound hammer until it comes into submision. This also drives the driver into the bolt head and helps insure that it does not strip out. This should help with the torque bolts.

the dash will require the wheel to be removed unless you want to cheat and use a hack saw on the small section of dash that is under the steering column, then you can put it back in with a short section of angle and some sheet metel screws. If you have a problem grasping this , and I can understand how that chould happen , I can send some pictures of mine. To pull the wheel you will need a wheel puller, available for rent or loan at most parts houses. and a horn ring compressor also available at the parts house. You need to pull the horn ring to remove the blinker switch from the column. This procedure is well ilistrated in just about any service manual. I think the padded dash will come out before the dash pannel will come out. but you need to talk to some one with a padded dash about that.
The plugs in the floor, I am guessing are for the rear seat and rear seat belt bolts. this is just a guess. I think I mite try a heat gun and see if the calk you see would soften up so they would come out. I also think I would look under the body and see if the other side was visable, that would give some indication of what you were dealing with.
And with that I think it is past time for me to go horizontal. good night and good luck.

 

[bullseye]

$350 and some change if memory serves correctly on the stainless brackets.

I've been using liquid wrench brand penetrator. I'm headed over to Sears to pick up an impact driver in a bit. Should make life easier for me no doubt. Excellent suggestion.

I like the idea of hacking that small section under the wheel. I'm not sure that I would even have to replace that part? I just looked at the steering column cover that I pulled and it will total cover that section that is to be cut.

Not sure if that there is any structural support with the instrument panel?

I have already removed the dash. That is just 8 screws and it came off in a snap. About the only thing so far.

Thanks again! I'll post pics later today hopefully without the roll bar and seat belt bolts.

 

[Canadian CJ 7]

Hi Bullseye, the metal under your rollbar mounts was much better than mine, I put new metal and new bolts in all four mount locations as well as replace the metal in the step up to the rear seat area. I bolts were so bad with rust and age that I just grinded them off with a grinder and replaced the bolts. I am enjoying reading your posts, I am restoring my 85 CJ7 at the moment also. I also have used POR-15 on my tub floorboards then painted it and used a automotive rubberized undercoating.

 

[IOPort51]

Let me answer what I can and speculate on what I will.
I like the seat brackets, I bet they are pricey. but cool! I was thinking seat slider and thought why bother.
The torque bolt that holds the seat belt on is threaded into a nut which is welded to the body. I will make two suggestions. First I am a big fan of a penetrating oil that is 50% acetone and 50% ATF. I am told it is what PB blaster is made of but I do not know for sure, I know it works far better than WD40. I would say it was something to keep away from direct contact with the paint as much as possible but with the state of yur paint it is not much of a concern. Soak the threads overnight for best results.
second suggestion, I have found that cheep torques drivers are not worth owning, I suggest a set of Kobalts or craftsman. I have the best results with a 3/8 drive impact driver. That is one of those things you hit with a hammer, it comes with a philips and flat screw bit. just put the 3/8 torque bit on the end of the driver and assault it with a two pound hammer until it comes into submision. This also drives the driver into the bolt head and helps insure that it does not strip out. This should help with the torque bolts.

the dash will require the wheel to be removed unless you want to cheat and use a hack saw on the small section of dash that is under the steering column, then you can put it back in with a short section of angle and some sheet metel screws. If you have a problem grasping this , and I can understand how that chould happen , I can send some pictures of mine. To pull the wheel you will need a wheel puller, available for rent or loan at most parts houses. and a horn ring compressor also available at the parts house. You need to pull the horn ring to remove the blinker switch from the column. This procedure is well ilistrated in just about any service manual. I think the padded dash will come out before the dash pannel will come out. but you need to talk to some one with a padded dash about that.
The plugs in the floor, I am guessing are for the rear seat and rear seat belt bolts. this is just a guess. I think I mite try a heat gun and see if the calk you see would soften up so they would come out. I also think I would look under the body and see if the other side was visable, that would give some indication of what you were dealing with.
And with that I think it is past time for me to go horizontal. good night and good luck.

make that torx bolts.

 

[dislsmoke]

No offense but please do not cut the section under the steering column, the dash will get flimsey, I have a wrangler dash that someone did that to and it is pretty much junk. Unless you make a bracket to mount it back together like port 51 said. It will be your best bet to pull the wheel.

 

[bullseye]

No offense but please do not cut the section under the steering column, the dash will get flimsey, I have a wrangler dash that someone did that to and it is pretty much junk. Unless you make a bracket to mount it back together like port 51 said. It will be your best bet to pull the wheel.

No offense taken. Glad you pointed that out to me. The dash will be one of the jobs I do after I paint the floor but before I put the seats back in, so I have have plenty of time before I get to that point.

 

[bullseye]

I just got back from Sears. $25 for the impact driver (manual) and I splurged on an air impact wrench which will simplify putting everything back together.

The Craftsman impact wrench was on sale for only $19!

Going to go try to work on these bolts.

 

[bullseye]

Impact driver did not work at all. Every time I hit it, it just spins in my hand instead of spinning the bolt. (that's ok, a good addition to my tools)

The $19 impact air wrench got 9 out of 12 bolts out of the roll bar.

Neither would even budge the seat belt bolts.

Went underneath and tried applying the liquid wrench to the bottom of the bolts but only 1 of of the 5 remaining is accessible... they are buried inside the frame.

I really, really, REALLY hate drilling bolts! Going to try again later hoping penetrating fluid works itself in deeper...

 

[IOPort51]

No offense but please do not cut the section under the steering column, the dash will get flimsey, I have a wrangler dash that someone did that to and it is pretty much junk. Unless you make a bracket to mount it back together like port 51 said. It will be your best bet to pull the wheel.

I did that way back when I painted mine and it is OK with the splice in it but I have a new dash to put in and this time I am going to pull the wheel.

 

[IOPort51]

Impact driver did not work at all. Every time I hit it, it just spins in my hand instead of spinning the bolt. (that's ok, a good addition to my tools)

The $19 impact air wrench got 9 out of 12 bolts out of the roll bar.

Neither would even budge the seat belt bolts.

Went underneath and tried applying the liquid wrench to the bottom of the bolts but only 1 of of the 5 remaining is accessible... they are buried inside the frame.

I really, really, REALLY hate drilling bolts! Going to try again later hoping penetrating fluid works itself in deeper...

do you have an arc welder?:dunno: